What is a sales funnel and why do you need one?

Everyone is talking about funnels. If you’re selling a course or program, this is why you need one.

To convert your audience into buyers, you need a sales funnel.

A sales funnel is a process of driving traffic through the sales process, from meeting you to buying from you. A funnel will automate the whole process of developing the “Know, Like & Trust” you look for when building relationships as well as sales. These days, no one buys from someone they don’t know, so if you’re selling a course or program, warming up a cold audience is essential to your online sales.

Warming up people who have just met you (cold audiences) and moving them through your funnel is easier when you understand what each funnel position is and what kind of content can help you reach your objectives at each phase in the sales cycle. The traffic that moves through the following stages are looking for a solution to what keeps them up at night and your course or program is the answer to their problems. A funnel helps to move them through each phase of the sales cycle and increase your sales on autopilot. A sales funnel is an automated process that starts with your first landing page and ends at your last order confirmation page, in other words it funnels your audience from the top to the bottom.

Have you ever signed up for a resource and gotten a pop or an offer on the thank you page? That is a sales funnel. The process of putting offers in front of the people who are visiting your landing page, whether it’s in ClickFunnels or your website, leads your buyer persona into some kind of ascension from the introduction to the sale. It’s a flow and usually consists of landing and sales pages connected to email marketing as well. The goal is to get someone to give up their email to get into your funnel, and keep going until they make a purchase, in a nutshell. Some funnels are just a few pages and lead to a phone call or strategy session, while others lead to purchasing an array of products and yet still some may have only one product.

Starting with the fundamentals, let’s talk about the different sections of a funnel, now that we know what it does.

At the top of the funnel, the objective is to drive the most high quality traffic into your funnel as you can to make them aware of your brand. As they move down to the middle, not everyone who has been made aware of you is going to buy, so the group gets smaller. As they move to the bottom, that group is smaller yet.

Sounds dire, but consider this: a billboard on the side of the highway is seen by 20,000 drivers a day. Only 20% of the drivers who see that billboard will be interested. Of course, I’m making up the numbers as an example to illustrate that not everyone who sees your message will be interested. That’s why we are stuck watching commercials for products we are not interested in unless we get up to take a break or get a snack. I’m not interested in fast food commercials or the Men’s Warehouse, so I take care of what I have to during the commercial breaks and then get back to my movie.

Let’s break down the 3 funnel positions and what they look like:

Top of Funnel

Middle of Funnel

Bottom of Funnel

Top of Funnel

This phase of marketing, using inbound or paid strategies, is where your goal is to create awareness. Awareness of your brand as well as awareness of a problem that you have a solution for in some cases. I say in some cases, because obviously some brands have a product that everyone is aware of the use, like wine. We all know how to use wine so awareness for the new vineyard wouldn’t point out a problem ….unless being out of wine is a problem. No judgement. Being out of chocolate is a huge problem over here at the Miller house.

This is the interest building phase. Not just in your brand, but your solution or product. In “Know, Like & Trust” development, you are letting them get to know you, and you may even start with story “selling” to build interest or dramatic content. Drama sells and in this phase, you want to get them hooked on your brand or your even your personality. When I say dramatic, I mean in terms of story telling that gets them hooked. Your brand probably exists because you solved a problem for yourself, that’s high drama.

To build an audience, using the following content can help build awareness and interest:

Blog posts

Videos

Social media posts

Problem solving engagement

Facebook™ live

Instagram posts

Pinterest pins

Middle of Funnel

This is what’s known as the consideration phase. This is where your audience is aware of your solution and considering whether or not to buy. You’ve made them aware of your brand and a problem, now it’s time to tell them why your solution is the best for them. Why are your competitors weak? Why should they trust you and pull out their credit cards? There are less people in your audience now, and they have stayed because they are interested so drive home the benefits. What’s in it for them? They’ve gotten to know you, obviously like you and are starting to trust you. When they truly trust that your solution for them is the only one is when they become buyers, so they are looking for information about your course or program that really showcases why they should pick you. One of the most effective ways to do this is by making it clear how you will solve their problem.

To help them make their decision, the following content can help:

Resource guides that solve a part of their problem

Videos that speak their language and answer their questions

Free content series

Challenges or mini training

Bottom of Funnel

If you’ve nurtured and created excitement, your audience is ready to buy. This is where you ask for the sale and send out your call to action.

At this point, there are even less people in your audience, but we know that they are interested in our solution, so it’s time to drive that final point home and get them to pull out their credit cards.

There still may be some final objections, so be ready to show them your authority and why you’re the ONLY solution for them. You’re the best and this is why.

BONUS: Lower part of the bottom

This is where retention is the goal. Continuity programs like monthly support or affiliate programs can make the bottom of your funnel the best part. If you are using tools in your business, sign up and provide links for their affiliate programs. Sell them on monthly coaching, support or an ongoing relationship related to your course or program.

Get them to stay by offering not only a solution, but the best solution and support that you can.

In my next blog post, I’m continuing with sales funnels by breaking down the 3 types of traffic and how knowing the difference can make or break your marketing strategy. Like me on Facebook™ and chose to see first so you are the first to know when I drop another post.

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